Hollywood continues to seek ways to reduce movie downloads

Hollywood content owners are crossing their fingers in hope that an agreement with the creator of a major to peer-to-peer download platform will reduce the online trading of pirated feature films.

The agreement involves BitTorrent software and its designer, Bram Cohen. It would remove links to pirated versions of movies from the BitTorrent Web site — www.bittorrent.com — in an effort to make it more difficult for Web users to find pirated films.

The agreement involves connections to content owned by the seven studios that are members of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Associated Press reported.

The deal, however, will not block pirated films from being swapped using the BitTorrent technology. In fact, Cohen told the Associated Press that even after the links are removed that files could be found using a search engine such as Google.

The agreement allows www.bittorrent.com to technically comply with procedures outlined in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. It also positions Cohen to potentially become a future partner with the content owners should they do an about face and embrace peer-to-peer technology for legitimate film downloads.